Prevention of Coronavirus Disease - How to Protect Youself with Hand Sanitizers

U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends hand sanitizers as an appropriate alternative to maintain hand hygiene when soap and water are not readily available to protect from coronavirus disease (COVID-19). They recommend using a hand sanitizer (which contains at least 60% alcohol) - by covering all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.

CDC instructs the public in handwashing with alcohol-based hand sanitizer according to the following procedure for using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:

1. Apply product to the palm of one hand.
2. Rub hands together.
3. Rub the product over all surfaces of hands and fingers until hands are dry.

Consumer alcohol-based hand sanitizers  (or alcohol hand antiseptic agents, or hand alcohol) with 60% to 95% alcohol by volume are most effective antiseptics. Lower or higher concentrations are less effective. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers contain the following ingredients:

• main alcohol antiseptics (isopropanol, ethanol, or n-propanol)
• additional antiseptics (chlorhexidine or quaternary ammonium derivatives)
• sporicides (hydrogen peroxides)
• agents to reduce skin dryness and irritation (emollients and gelling)
• foaming agents (for foams)

Studies show alcohol-based hand antiseptics are 100 times more effective against viruses than any form of handwashing. Isopropyl alcohol can kill 99.9 percent or more of all non-spore-forming bacteria in less than 30 seconds, both in a laboratory and on human skin.

At the same time, they may be ineffective in low amounts or concentrations (especially in the case of self-made ones) - because although isopropyl alcohol is effective in killing most bacteria, the exposure time required to destroy the cells is not respected, since alcohol usually evaporates in less than 10-15 seconds.

Researchers claim that the use of 0.3 ml alcohol-containing hand antiseptic is not more effective than regular handwashing with water and soap, but with an increase in volume up to 0.5 ml, the effectiveness of alcohol increases significantly.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer consumer products are available as liquids, foams, and easy-flowing gels. Hand gels are most convenient option for outdoor use and dry skin much less as compared with antiseptic/antimicrobial soap and water.